


The Pumpkin-gate Affair

by WritinRedhead



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Finn is a cute cheeky eight-year old, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Overuse of the Words Pumpkin and Halloween, Romance, and I offer no explanation on how he’s Bodhi’s nephew other than he just is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 18:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12563500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritinRedhead/pseuds/WritinRedhead
Summary: All Bodhi wants is a jack-o-lantern. A nice one. Not one of those crappy plastic things you can buy.He doesn't get a jack-o-lantern. But the cute new neighbor isn't so bad either.





	The Pumpkin-gate Affair

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 13 Days of Sniperpilot Halloween 
> 
> Alternative title: "Swept Me Off My Feet (like pumpkin guts off my steps)" ~~congrats, you two enablers~~
> 
> Prompt Day 6: I’m sad because kids smashed my jack o lantern, you offer the pumpkin off your porch to replace it.  
> Prompt Day 9: My cute neighbor goes all out with the Halloween decorations.  
> Prompt Day 1: Candy corn is not an appropriate replacement for vampire teeth
> 
> It was supposed to be just a Day 6 fic, but then some other prompt ideas suddenly showed up and who am I to refuse them?
> 
> Many thanks to [ AliciaSinCiudad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliciaSinCiudad) for being a dear and beta-ing this. :)

"You could still... make soup out of it?" Cassian supplies, more or less helpfully.

Bodhi first looks at his new neighbor, dressed in an open plaid shirt and standing in front of this door, then at the orange mess scattered all over his front steps. A far less pleasant sight. He skeptically raises an eyebrow.

"And what am I gonna call it? Jack-o'-lantern with herbs and a dash of nutmeg?" he asks, unable to keep the touch of sarcasm from slipping into his voice. Bodhi decides that this is entirely Kay's fault, his friend and colleague's personality gradually rubbing off on him.

He sits down on the steps, careful not to do so in the middle of the sad remnants of his former jack-o-lantern. Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair, accidentally pulling a few strands out of the messy bun he hadn't bothered to fix in the morning because he'd been too busy decorating the inside of the house. He buries his head in his hands. "This is a nightmare."

"Okay," Cassian admits hesitantly. "Maybe soup isn't such a good idea. Don't you have a… replacement pumpkin or something?"

Bodhi glances up. Cassian looks a little helpless. And honestly? Bodhi understands. After all, it's not everyday that you go to get a wrongly delivered parcel and end up having to comfort your nearly thirty-year old neighbor because he's devastated over a carved out pumpkin. A smashed carved out pumpkin.

Since Cassian had moved in next door one month ago, they'd met a few times, but one of them had always been one the go, and they hadn't had a proper conversation other than a quick introduction on the sidewalk. Well done, Bodhi thinks bitterly. Good job making sure he'll forever think you're weird.

"It was supposed to be a surprise for my nephew, you know," he tries to explain. "He's coming over for Halloween because his dad has to work. His dad is away often, actually, and I - I just wanted him to have a  _nice_ Halloween this year. With costumes and sweets and, well, a real jack-o-lantern. Not one of those crappy plastic things you can buy."

"Oh." Cassian nods, understanding. He carefully walks around the pumpkin splatters and sits down next to Bodhi. "Yeah. I've seen those around. I'm no expert when it comes to decorations, but even I think those are tasteless."

"I know, right? It took me ages to find a big enough pumpkin, because wherever I looked, they were already sold out. Sold out pumpkins…" Bodhi shakes his head. "I never thought I'd consider that a problem one day." He sighs. "Sorry I'm telling you all of this. You just wanted to get your mail."

He puts his hands on his knees, pushing himself up to finally go inside and fetch the parcel his neighbor had come to get in the first place.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm in no hurry." Cassian stands up too, putting a hand on Bodhi's arm to hold him back. "You've got think I'm a tactless idiot for the soup suggestion. I'm just... not the best at expressing myself. Or so people keep telling me. But that doesn't change that it's a shitty thing those brats smashed your pumpkin and I'm honestly sorry."

His hand squeezes a little, reassuringly, and the long, elegant fingers are warm even through Bodhi's thick sweater. It's feel nice, and Bodhi thinks he should probably get out a little more, since that's the most human contact he's had in a several weeks - not counting Kay slapping his back when he'd nearly choked on his sandwich last week. It needs a lot of Bodhi's willpower to a) keep himself from putting his own hand on top of Cassian's and b) reading too much into it. For all he knows, his neighbor could be as straight as an arrow.

"Thanks." Bodhi smiles instead, and Cassian pats his arm once more before letting go.

"I think it's nice," Cassian says. "What you're doing for your nephew, I mean. I wish someone had done that for me when I was a kid." The expression on his face turns wistful for a moment, stuck somewhere in a past Bodhi doesn't know, before he blinks and the look is gone as if it never had been there. Cassian claps his hands together. "Come on, where's your broom? I'll help you get this cleaned up."

A few minutes and a few sweeps later, Bodhi leans the broom against his porch railing and takes in their work. It looks as if pumpkin-gate never happened. Good. He turns toward Cassian.

"Can I invite you in for a cup of tea? Or coffee, whatever you prefer. As a thank you," he adds quickly.

For a second, it looks like Cassian bites his lip before he answers. Then the corners of his mouth turn upward and Bodhi hopes his own mouth doesn't fall open. If he knows one thing about his neighbor, it's that he has the prettiest smile Bodhi's ever seen.

"That'd be nice."

After storing away the broom, Bodhi leads Cassian inside, directing him to a stool at the kitchen isle. Once he's sat down, Cassian curiously looks around. "You sure did go all out," he comments with a whistle.

"Huh, what?" Stopping in filling the kettle, Bodhi turns to follow Cassian's gaze. He takes a looks at his apartment and -  _shit_ \- realizes what Cassian means.

Fake spider webs are dangling from the lamps, an old bed sheet is thrown over the couch to make it more spooky. A vast assortment of candy, including candy corn, fun sized candy bars and lollipops, is spread all over the kitchen and adjacent living room, his ficus sporting a generous amount of cotton webbing, and to top it all off, he'd sprayed his windows with fake spider web spray - which, Bodhi realizes with dawning horror, is going be a nightmare to get off later. But most prominent is probably a near life-sized scarecrow next to his coffee table, a plastic raven on its outstretched arm and glowering toward the kitchen.

A sudden wave of panic comes over Bodhi. He might have... overdone it a bit in his eagerness.

"Is it too much? Dammit. I should have realized Kay was joking when he said I definitely needed a scarecrow."

To his surprise Cassian looks more impressed than amused. He takes another look at the scarecrow before smiling at Bodhi. Bodhi bites his tongue. That smile is really unfair.

"No, it's great. Your friend has good taste. Hey, how old is your nephew?" Cassian snatches two pieces of candy corn off the kitchen isle and sticks them onto his canines. "Phould a phamphire phcill phcare him?"

"He's eight. Nine in december, which he keeps telling me," Bodhi says, laughing and wondering how it's possible that Cassian still manages to look so rudely attractive even with candy stuck to his teeth. "But I don't think he'd be afraid of Count Candy Corn."

"Phame." With a shrug, Cassian darts his tongue out to remove the candy, biting down on it. His face scrunches up as he chews. "Yuck. No matter how often I eat them, I'll never get used to that texture. Can't believe they keep turning up every year."

It's probably been years since Bodhi's last eaten candy corn, but he knows what Cassian means all too well. Tiny, gritty bits of underdeveloped caramels. He shudders. "Yeah, they're gross little things. I just bought everything they had in the Halloween aisle. The cashier probably thought I was some kind of Halloween maniac."

Cassian waves it off. "This is still pretty tame, considering what I've seen people at college do to their rooms."

With a loud whistle, the kettle signals that the water is boiling and Bodhi pours two cups, one with coffee, one with tea. He sets both cups down on the kitchen isle, then takes the stool next to Cassian.

"Here. The coffee is instant, but it's actually quite good. Do you take milk and sugar?"

"Black is fine." Cassian waves a hand, motioning for Bodhi to keep sitting. He raises the cup to his lips, carefully blowing on it. After taking a sip, he nods approvingly. "You're right, this is good.

"It's funny," Bodhi muses, wrapping his fingers around his own cup, letting the warmth soak in. "We've been neighbors for over a month, but it's taken a smashed jack-o-lantern to get us talking."

"I'm not complaining." Cassian cocks his head, smiling. It gives Bodhi a nice view onto the side of his neck, sinews visible under the exposed skin. He shifts on his stool. "About the talking," Cassian clarifies. "Still sorry about your jack-o-lantern."

Bodhi sighs heavily. The other decorations will have to do. "Guess it wasn't meant to be."

"Oh, damn." Cassian suddenly puts his cup down, awkwardly rubbing his neck. "Speaking of which… I swear I only remembered just now, but I think have a pumpkin kicking around in my backyard somewhere. A friend gave it to me because, apparently, my house wasn't 'Halloween enough'. I could go get it," he offers.

"What, really?"

"Yeah, really." Cassian assures. "You can have it."

Bodhi knows he must be smiling like a lunatic. "I could kiss you right now."

"Why don't you?" Cassian blurts out.

Bodhi just stares. He's misheard that just now, he's sure. Maybe should really get that health check-up done that Kay insists is vital for 'optimal functionality'. On the other hand, it really had sounded like the fucking gorgeous guy sitting in Bodhi's kitchen had just asked to kiss him.

He might have been quiet for a little too long, because the rudely attractive smile disappears from Cassian's face, only to be replaced by an embarrassed frown, along with Cassian frantically starting to apologize.

"Fuck. That was weird. I'm so sorry, forget I ever said it."

Before his stupid brain can get second thoughts, Bodhi makes up his mind. Feeling daring with just a dash of giddy, he leans over in his stool and quickly pecks Cassian on the lips.

"What was that?" Cassian asks, baffled, when Bodhi pulls back, his face completely blank.

"A kiss. You asked for a one."

"That wasn't a kiss," Cassian says, still expressionless, and Bodhi is starting to get just a little nervous. Then a mischievous glint appears in Cassian's eyes. " _That's_  a kiss."

He leans over, putting his right hand to the side of Bodhi's face, and before Bodhi knows what's happening, Cassian's lips are on his, soft and careful, first testing out Bodhi's reaction. It only takes Bodhi a second to get over his initial surprise and press forward, tilting his head for a better angle, his hand finding hold on Cassian's shirt. A low moan escapes his throat as Cassian's mouth moves slowly against Bodhi's, tongue gently coaxing open his mouth, and Bodhi melts into the kiss. Not so straight then, he thinks absentmindedly as he responds with a nip to Cassian's bottom lip. Sometimes it's nice to be wrong. Then Cassian's hand curls around the back of his neck and he forgets about everything else.

For a moment, at least.

" _Uncle Bodhi?"_ A young voice has them both jumping. "Why are you kissing a stranger in the kitchen?"

When Bodhi turns, he sees Finn, with his overnight bag slung over his shoulder and eyes as wide as saucers. He must have let himself in with the spare key Bodhi keeps under the welcome mat.

"I - um… God, this is awkward." Bodhi clears his throat, disentangling his fingers from Cassian's shirt. "Finn, this Cassian. He's my, uhm, neighbor. Cassian, this is Finn, the nephew I was telling you about."

Cassian smiles, again rubbing the back of his neck. It seems to be a thing he does when he's embarrassed. "Hi, Finn. I was just telling your uncle that I have a pumpkin that'd make a very nice jack-o-lantern."

"It looked more like you were making out," the boy says, and Bodhi is glad his tea is sitting safe and sound on the kitchen isle. Otherwise he would have choked on it then and there. Finn just shrugs. "That's what the older kids at school call it," he says casually.

Only then he seems to notice the rest of the apartment. Finn unceremoniously drops his bag and wanders into the living room, immediately drawn in by the glowering scarecrow. He looks up at it in utter fascination. "It looks so cool in here!"

Bodhi still is flabbergasted. "Why are you here already? I-I'm glad, I just thought you'd come on the…  _Oh, shi-_ " He cuts himself off. "The 31st is today, right?"

Both Finn and Cassian look at him, incredulous.

"I was busy  _preparing_." Bodhi waves his hands in a supposed to be explanatory way. It's probably not helpful.

"Uncle Bodhi, you forgot Halloween  _because_ of Halloween? That's new, even for you." Finn laughs. He turns toward Cassian, anticipation on his face. "What about that pumpkin you mentioned? I've always wanted to make a jack-o-lantern."

"We could make one together." Bodhi, too, quickly glances at Cassian. "I mean…" he breaks off. If today's really the 31st, Cassian might have other plans already and not want to get roped into his and Finn's Halloween plans.

Cassian catches Bodhi's look, apparently understanding the intention behind it. "And then make pumpkin soup?" he adds with a grin.

Bodhi breathes in relief. He feels a flutter starting in his stomach and spread all over his body. Bless that smashed pumpkin in his garbage can. "Who's up for a scary movie afterward?" he asks. "We could have roasted pumpkin seeds instead of popcorn?"

"Yes!" Finn looks delighted. Nothing like the prospect of being allowed to watch a scary movie to excite an eight-year-old. He quickly gathers his bag from the ground. "I'll just put my things in my room, then we can start, okay?"

Once he's vanished around the corner, Cassian leans over to Bodhi, hip brushing against his. "Dinner and a movie," he murmurs in Bodhi's ear. "Should we count that as a date?"

Bodhi grins and his fingers curl around the lapels of Cassian's shirt, tugging him closer. "Definitely."

 


End file.
